Chewing gums typically known in the art contain many ingredients, including sweeteners and flavor ingredients. It is often desirable to produce a chewing gum having a high degree of sweetness and flavor. However, one of the limitations of chewing gum is that the sweetness and flavor are rapidly lost during chewing. This is especially true of bubble gums and other "fast release" chewing gums which release their sweetness and flavor compounds rapidly, creating an initial burst of high intensity sweetness and flavor which is initially pleasing to the consumer but which dissipates quickly during chewing.
"Slow release" chewing gums, on the other hand, release their sweetness and flavor over a longer period of time but do not provide an initial burst of high intensity sweetness and flavor. Thus, the consumer who desires a high initial sweetness and flavor impact must often sacrifice the enjoyment of long lasting sweetness and flavor. The consumer who desires a chewing gum having a longer lasting sweetness and flavor must often forego the enjoyment of an initially high sweetness and flavor impact. Chewing gum manufacturers are constantly trying to extend the time in which consumers can enjoy the sweetness and flavor of chewing gum without sacrificing the quality of the initial sweetness and flavor impact.
The use of fruit flavors in chewing gum has become very common, especially in bubble gum. Fruit flavors typically contain a combination of fruit esters and may contain orange oil, lemon oil or other natural oils. Fruit flavors used in chewing gum include, but are not limited to, banana, cherry, apple, pineapple, grape, strawberry and blends including commonly known tutti frutti and other bubble gum flavors.
Fruit esters tend to release from chewing gum very quickly causing the chewing gum to have a relatively short flavor duration. Also, fruit esters typically have a light flavor quality, causing the chewing gum to have a low flavor impact. The use of fruit oils such as orange and lemon oil, or certain other flavor oils such as clove oil and oil of wintergreen, tends to increase the duration and impact of the fruit flavors to some extent. However, there is still a need or desire in the chewing gum industry for techniques which further enhance the impact and duration of the sweetness and flavor of bubble gum and other fruit flavored chewing gums.
Aspartame, also known as N-L-alpha-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine-l-methyl ester, and acesulfame-K, also known as the potassium salt of 6-methyl-l,2,3-oxathiazin-4(3H)-one-2,2-dioxide, are two commonly known high intensity sweetener ingredients. U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,658, issued to Cherukuri et al., discloses an enhanced sweetening effect which results in chewing gum when aspartame and acesulfame-K are combined together and encapsulated to form a single encapsulated sweetener composition containing weight ratios of aspartame to acesulfame-K of about 20:80 or about 40:60. Overall, the encapsulated sweetening agent composition contains about 0.01% to about 50% by weight of the combination of aspartame and acesulfame-K. The chewing gum composition itself contains about 0.065% to about 0,095% by weight of the aspartame. The aspartame and acesulfame-K are encapsulated together as a core, using a coating layer of polyvinyl acetate.
European Publication No. 0,314,626, to Cherukuri et al., discloses a delivery system wherein spray dried flavors or other powdered flavors are encapsulated in a matrix that includes a sweetness enhancer and hydrophobic material selected from the group consisting of fats, waxes, and mixtures thereof. The sweetener enhancer is selected from the group consisting of thaumatin, monellin, dihydrochalcones and mixtures thereof. The use of additional "auxiliary" sweeteners is also disclosed, including aspartame or acesulfame-K.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,396, issued to Stephens, Jr., discloses a possible synergistic effect between aspartame and acesulfame-K. U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,068, issued to Von Rymon Lipinski et al., and British Patent 1,568,875, issued to Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft, both disclose a synergistic effect between aspartame and the potassium salt of 3,4-dihydro-5-methyl-l,2,3-oxathiazine-4-one-2,2-dioxide, commonly known as acetosulfame.